Occupational Therapy

Special Events

OT Graduate Embraces Orphans in Africa with AIDS
A recent graduate of Temple University, Occupational Therapy program, Deborah Berruti, talked about her summer in Matatiele, South Africa, working with children orphaned by AIDS. “I spent the majority of my time with the kids hugging them,” Berruti recalls. “They crave attention. What I was supposed to be doing was developing their fine motor skills.” Working at the Crossroads Childrens Home, she helped the children learn to write, use scissors, tie shoes and do school work. Crossroads cares for children from infancy to age 18 who come from villages on the east coast of South Africa. All of them have lost parents to AIDS, and some are HIV positive themselves, either contracting the disease before birth or as a result of childhood rape. “Their stories are remarkable,” Berruti says. She presented her research at the American Occupational Therapy Association in April, and presented it in July at the World Federation of Occupational Therapists in Sydney Australia.

Dr. Laura Gitlin Presents on Enhancing Quality of Life in the Frail Elderly
Laura Gitlin, Ph. D. presented her research at the Health Sciences Campus of Temple University this fall. The presentation was titled Can We Postpone Mortality and Enhance Quality of Life in Frail Elders. Dr. Gitlin is a research sociologist in the area of family care-giving, physical function, quality of life in dementia care, and mental health and adaptive processes in culturally diverse populations. She has a strong research interest in working with health and human service professionals to develop testing methods and the translation into psychosocial and environmental interventions which enhance the lives of older people and their family members. She has been the Director of the Center of Applied Research on Aging and Health and Professor in the Department of Occupational therapy at Thomas Jefferson University.

Advanced Master Degree Program and Course Completion Certificates

Temple University is offering its well-established
Advanced Master of Science Degree in the Department
of Occupational Therapy in a distance education format. Students will be able to complete coursework on-line with
2-3 required on-campus weekends a year. The program prepares therapists to be advanced clinicians, program developers, researchers and educators. This is a 36 semester hour program consisting of specific required course work that includes a thesis, as well as electives related to the clinical specialty area of practice.

The department also offers Professional Enhancement Course Completion Certificates in 4 different areas including Early Intervention and School Based Pediatric Practice, Sensory Integration, Assistive Technology, and Gerontology. The Course Completion Certificates involve taking a series of 3-4 courses in the specialty areas. All courses are offered either in a distance education or one week on-campus intensive format.
For more information on the Advanced Master Degree program or Course Completion Certificates, please check out our website at www.temple.edu/OT or contact the department at (215) 707-4813.

Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association
Temple University, Department of Occupational Therapy hosted the Pennsylvania Occupational Therapy Association (POTA) District V dinner meeting this fall. After dinner, Dr. Ruth Farber presented her research on Mothers with Disabilities.

Faculty Focus

Professors Moya Kinnealey, Ph.D., OTR/L, FAOTA and Kristie P. Koenig Ph.D., OTR/L presented at the World Autism Congress in Capetown, South Africa this fall. The presentation was titled In Their Own Voice: Facilitating Participation and Improving Outcomes for Individuals with Autism. Information for the presentation was obtained from interviews they did with adults and adolescents with autistic spectrum disorders.

Dr. Beth Pfeiffer, Ph.D., OTR/L, BCP, presented Sensory Processing Disorders: Social, Emotional and Mental Health Implications at the conference Sensory Processing Disorders in Children, Adolescents and Adults at Thomas Jefferson University this summer. The presentation focused on the research supporting evidence for sensory based interventions completed by Drs. Moya Kinnealey, Kristie Koenig, Sinclair Smith, and Beth Pfeiffer, all faculty members in the department.

Occupational therapy faculty, Ruth S. Farber, PhD, OTR/L, presented her research entitled The Mother's Interpersonal Environment: The Relationship of Social Support, Role Participation and Maternal Role Satisfaction of Mothers with Multiple Sclerosis at the 12th Annual North American Collaborating Center Conference on International Classification of Functioning, held in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Also a televised interview with Ruth S. Farber and a mother with MS was selected by WebMD for their website. The link is entitled Managing Motherhood When You Have MS. The Web MD Link is: http://www.webmd.com/content/pages/26/114935.htm

Faculty Member Retires
One of Temple University’s respected Occupational Therapy faculty members retired after years of service to the department. Judith Perinchief, MS, OTR/L retired in June of this past year after serving in various positions in the department including the Fieldwork Coordinator and Department Chair. Her tenure at Temple University spanned over the course of 20 years. Judie first joined the faculty in 1986. We wish her the best of luck in all of her future endeavors and will certainly miss her here at Temple.

Newly Wed…

Dr. Tom North was married on October 21st, 2006. Both the ceremony and reception were held at Maggiano's in King of Prussia. His bride, Margie, is a microbiologist at Phoenixville Hospital. Thanks to Nancy Beck, an alumna of the second OT class of Temple, this merge was made possible. Congratulations Dr. North!

The OT Department Welcomes a New Faculty Member
Mike Gerg MS, OTR/L, CEES, CWCE joined the OT faculty this fall and offers this letter as a hello.

Hello Temple students and alumni!

It is great to be back in the Philadelphia area and be working for such a fine institution as ours. For those of you who don't know me, I am a Temple OT graduate. I was in the M.S. program and completed my thesis in 1996. I have spent the last 10 years working in Northwestern Virginia for a medium-sized (and growing) health care system, Valley Health. I had previously worked in inpatient, acute rehabilitation for Magee and Temple University Hospital. My work continued for Valley Health in that arena but later broadened to include sub-acute rehabilitation, long-term care, acute care, and outpatient hands. I also had the opportunity to assist in starting an occupational health program to serve local industry. During this time I became certified in ergonomic evaluation and Functional Capacity Evaluation (FCE) and chaired the Ergonomics Committee for Valley Health. I have done extensive work with nurses and nursing assistants in training them in better patient handling techniques, use of equipment, and back injury prevention. At the time of my departure from Valley Health I was actually spending half of my work week working for the Employee Health Department to research how to further reduce our staff injury rates.

Another aspect of my work for Valley Health included being the director of the Industrial Wellness Program where we offered ergonomic consulting and injury prevention training services to both office and industrial settings. I have worked with both small and large, multi-national companies as Kraft Foods, Lear Corporation, Toray, JB Hunt, Allegheny Power, Trex, and Quebecor World. I have enjoyed bringing occupational therapy into the work setting as well as assisting in bringing people back to work after long periods of illness or injury.

One of the most rewarding aspects of being an occupational therapist has always been the aspect of teaching individuals new ways of doing things. It is this love of teaching that brings me to my present situation, teaching at Temple. Over the past 10 years, I have also been an adjunct faculty member for Shenandoah University teaching in their OT, PT, and Athletic Training programs. I have begun this semester teaching the adult physical disabilities course work. These are the courses that many of you recent graduates of Temple's OT program will recall being taught by Judie Perinchief. I know that I have big shoes to fill here at Temple and was honored to be asked to share my knowledge with our current and future aspiring occupational therapy students.

Over the past few months I have had the opportunity to re-connect with many former colleagues from the Philadelphia area. I can honestly say that it is wonderful to be back in an area where there is a large number of OTs. If you would like to get together to meet with me and share some of your experiences in our field, or to ask me about some of mine, please don't hesitate to contact me at mjgerg@temple.edu or (215) 707-4843.